Saturday, December 6, 2014

Maharana Pratap | Who he was ? - Part-1

Friends,This post is an attempt to capture the personality of an exceptionally remarkable warrior in the history of Rajputana - Maharana Pratap..

The scion of the Sisodia Clan of Suryavanshi Rajputs of Mewar - Maharana Pratap, one of the most notable name among the Rajputs, a person whose name counts along the ranks of Bappa Rawal, Prithviraj Chauhan, Rana Hamir, Rana Kumbha, and Rana Sanga, to name a few Rajput warriors of the finest mettle who set their foot on the hot sands of Rajputana. In spite of countless barriers, this man coupled with indomitable spirit, stood up against the 'imperialism' throughout and lead his life in a manner which is remembered even today.

Born to Rana Udai Singh and Maharani Jaivanta Bai Sa, on May 9 1540, in the fort of Kumbhalgarh, the seat of his great grandfather - Rana Kumbha. He was born in the comforts of a palace but was destined to FIGHT and only FIGHT through out his life. He spent his childhood out of his palaces and got a first hand experience of the hardships of the citizens, of the problems which plagued the state. He declined a comfortable life and chose struggle, for his love of Freedom and Respect which were his jewels - robbery of which was not acceptable to him. He stood up in times of all adversities, waged a lone battle against THE MOST powerful man of Hindustan - Mughal Emperor Jalal-ud-din Muhammed Akbar Padshah. What for? HIS ONLY demand - the freedom of HIS Matrabhumi, his motherland, his Mewar. Religious tolerance without political considerations, broadness of mind and tons of generosity with an ideal thinking, made him in possession of some qualities which gained for him the highest place in all spheres of lives of his people.

A successful general - who knew how to charge his handful of warriors against the better equipped enemy : numerically as well as in terms of weaponry, a self-taught minister - who formulated policies on his own, a theologian - whose guides were his shastras, an ideal military innovator - who invented every possible little strategy despite being resource less living in exile in forest, a man of fortitude, a man of dauntless courage, a man who NEVER bowed infront in anyone but his mother and HIS Ekling Ji.

Sterling in his domestic relations, loving and forgiving to his rebelling brothers, simple like an ascetic, fearless like a tiger, free like the King of Forest, he had a passion for freedom and a hatred for ease of the comfort. Even today one wonders how A SINGLE MAN kept the Mughal Emperor Akbar at bay from the satisfaction of being successful in making him bow before the Mughal Flag. His coolness and dauntless courage were famous throughout : no danger however great, no emergency how­ever unlooked for, could shake his heart or cloud the serene light of his intellect. Indeed, he regarded danger as only the legitimate risk of greatness. No amount of exertion could fatigue this 7 feet tall warrior. The privations of a campaign or forced ride had no terror for him. He lead his army from the front. Numerically, his forces were of no match with the never ending armies of the Mughal Emperor. He devised a sensible strategy new to those times - Guerilla Warfare - according to which the fight was conducted in the place which was suitable for HIS OWN SMALL army ; which was later implemented by Shivaji and also in Bijapur. Of diplomacy he was a past master, and could not be beaten in any kind of intrigue or secret manipulation. He was as much a “lord of the mind” as a “lord of the sword.” Though, amongst his most favorite battle weapons, his spear was the foremost. And his most trusted companion was HIS Chetak - his horse.

He possessed that warm generosity of the heart, that chivalry to fallen foes, and that moderation and easy familiarity of address in private life, which earned him the love and admiration of his citizens, other contemporaries and of all posterity. Of the grants given by him, many are still preserved by the present Royal House of Udaipur, in the Udaipur Palace...This series will be continued. Probably in one more part, i will be able to finish the "introduction" of Maharana Pratap.Note:For episode related discussions of Maharana Pratap show, here is a separate post, this would be continued in a series: Maharana Pratap | Episode Discussion

22 comments:

A wonderful eulogy to a great warrior and king who never lost the common touch. The son of the soil who fended off the imperialist forces of the Mughals under Akbar, almost single-handedly and recaptured and retained most of his beloved Mewar throughout his reign. The son who dwarfed his father and went on to become one of the finest legends in Rajputana.

It must have been something to have been able to witness the face-off between 2 legends - MP and Akbar, in those days. :)

Awesome, Abhay Thank u fr this ode to the most courageous warrier king Every adjective u hv chosen to describe his personality was apt. It made my heart heavy, as such a patriot had to face so much adversity, n conspiracy throughout his life. Innovation of new tactics of guerilla war shows how intelligent he was! If we ever compare Akbar with MP all my votes to MP as numbers were always on Akbar's side.I feel like reading ur post again n again, history-geek, ur blog is becoming more n more colourful.

Abhay, wonderful post on the Great Maharana Pratap. He along with Shivaji Maharaj still rules the hearts of the people, after centuries.

I knew he was tall, did not know he was 7' tall!!! Wow what a sight he must have been riding majestically on Chetak.

Abhay I am so glad you started the series on MRP.

Abhay, my knowledge of MRP is very sketchy compared to all you experts but - I find it so interesting that for men who fought wars most of their lives Maharana Pratap and Shivaji Maharaj both passed away not on battlefield but in their homes on their own bed, after having achieved what they set out to achieve :))

They ruled the land but more - they still rule the hearts of the people.

History-geek,U hv written many names of gr8 warriors, starting frm Bappa Rawal. of these warriors I know only Prithviraj Chauhan.Can u give brief intro of these men, which clan they belonged to, fought against whom n their chronology?Being Indians, it won't be proper if we don't know our own warriors.!

Geeta,Except Prithviraj Chauhan all these warriors are from Mewar region itself. :)These are ancestors of Maharana Pratap. :)You can ask here if you want to know more about them. I will try to tell as much as possible from my limited knowledge. :)

abhay - i was watching maharana pratap online. last week they had shown his war. he was fighting wid a spear in tat. 'tis post came in my mind, as u mentioned spear as his favorite weapon. but how cn spear b very effective weapon? why not use sword.

Thanks for answering Radhika. :DIqra has asked a tricky question. As far as i know, Maharana Pratap used to fight battles personally. He used to attack the people while riding on horse in a battle field. And in this case, he had to fight multiple people at one time. I think that a spear helps in combating people from a distance also. :)

Can anybody enlighten me regarding, 1.The history of Bandooks n Toafs, in which country they were experimented first? 2. How n when did they come to India? 3. They r referred to as Aagneyastra in MP. Did Rajputana anytime started producing such weapons or they relied totally on primitive methods?

With reference to MP show..I would like to mention that, Babur had some artillery with him which he used against the Rajput confederacy in Battle of Khanua(late 1520's). So, Mughals had this, and this was one of the major reasons for their triumph.

During the battle of Chittor(1567-68), Rajputs also had made use of muskets. :)

Circumstances play a major role in shaping a person. Perhaps, Maharana Pratap's case falls in this category. There are other warriors as well after Maharana Pratap. The case of Durga Das Rathore of Marwar is known, though not as famous as Maharana Pratap.

Protected Content..DO NOT Steal..

Don't Miss a Post..Get them in your Inbox !

After initiating the subscription by entering the E-Mail Id in the above box, readers are sent a Verification E-Mail to their Id's by which they requested the subscription. Then, they are required to click on the Link received in the Automatic Mail sent on their E-Mail Id. After that ONLY, the subscription process is completed. Thereafter, the readers will get, notification mail whenever a new post is made on this Blog.

After initiating the subscription by entering the E-Mail Id in the above box, readers are sent a Verification E-Mail to their Id's by which they requested the subscription. Then, they are required to click on the Link received in the Automatic Mail sent on their E-Mail Id. After that ONLY, the subscription process is completed. Thereafter, the readers will get, notification mail whenever a new post is made on this Blog.

Contact Form. Your suggestions are valuable for the betterment of this Blog.

Protected Content: All originally researched content, or otherwise, on http://mariam-uz-zamani.blogspot.in/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Part of the US Copyright Law. The DMCA addresses penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet and protects content creators by "establishing procedures for proper notification" to OSPs when copyright infringement is identified online. Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, Title II of the DMCA "adds a new section 512 to the Copyright Act to create four new limitations on liability for copyright infringement by online service providers." These procedures allow content creators or their designated agent to file proper DMCA Takedown notice to the OSP in case infringed material has been detected on their servers.